(Chester DailyLocal.com, USA )
Greist must never be released from the state hospital
Every year around this time Richard Greist, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1980 for the death of his wife, Janice, and attacks on his family, pushes for more freedom.
And every year, Greist, a resident at Norristown State Hospital, is denied.
We’re all about rights, fairness and treating people the correct way.
However, here’s our position on Greist: Richard Greist is where he belongs and never should be released from the state hospital — ever.
Why?
Because on May 10, 1978, Greist, in a psychotic rage, stabbed his wife, cut the body of his unborn son from her body and mutilated it, then stabbed one of his two daughters in the eye and killed the family cat at their home in East Coventry. He was captured outside the house by police, his body smeared with the blood of his victims.
He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1980 and has remained at Norristown State Hospital ever since.
That is where he belongs. He needs to be in a facility that can attempt to treat his mental illness.
Apparently, a Chester County judge agrees.
The judge overseeing Greist’s case has ordered him recommitted to Norristown State Hospital for another year, and made no changes in the off-ground privileges that he now enjoys.
The judge — Judge Edward Griffith — also had some harsh words for Greist, saying that Greist continues to see his release from Norristown as the primary mission of his work with doctors, rather than to completely engage in the psychiatric therapy that would improve his condition.
"Rather than focus solely on therapy as a means to this end, Mr. Greist appears to believe he can marshal pubic opinion to aid his cause," Griffith wrote in a footnote to his order recommitting Greist, signed Feb. 28. "Mr. Greist remains committed to his vision that he is the greatest victim of the horrific acts that he perpetrated on May 10, 1978."
There remains a profound disagreement among psychiatrists who have interviewed and treated Greist about his current mental condition, and whether he has regained enough of a hold on his emotional and psychological status to begin the process of an eventual release from the hospital into the community.
Doctors hired by Greist’s attorney say he has made progress and that there are no serious obstacles with his eventual release to either a half-way house or other residential setting, while a prosecution psychiatrist says he still poses a threat to the community.
Greist is allowed to attend church services at a local branch of the Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where he is an ordained minister, once a week;
to attend sessions with his personal psychiatrist once a week; to have unsupervised 12-hour visits once every three months; and to have supervised outings given a three-day notice to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office and local police.However, we think as long as the argument exists over Greist’s mental status, the community deserves to be protected from him.
"Mr. Greist lacks empathy for those he has hurt. (He) continues to engage in manipulative behavior with his caregivers. Mr. Greist ... continues to blame others, particularly women, for his plight, fails to take responsibility for the consequences of his own choices and actions, and fails to recognize any impact his behaviors have had on others," the judge wrote.
That’s reason enough for us.